Parental Due Process

In The Imprint, reporter Jeremy Loudenback highlighted California’s efforts to change mandatory reporting laws, a movement spurred by advocates who believe the current system unnecessarily pulls innocent families into the child welfare system. Loudenback featured the story of Roger De Leon, Jr., who was investigated for suspected abuse only to be later found innocent, as one traumatic example.

In a searing new memo released today, Lives in the Balance: A Bold Plan to Fix America’s Broken Child Protection System, the Center for the Rights of Abused Children lays bare an unflinching truth:

Imagine the state taking your child for no other reason than because you failed to check the right box on a government form. For fathers in Arizona, this nightmare has been reality for decades.

SB 1186 will enhance the rights of children in foster care, foster parents, kinship placements, and biological parents by making those rights enforceable.